‘Nobody seemed to care about Sports Direct’ - Premier League sponsorship block vote impact on Newcastle United assessed

The impromptu sponsorship vote in the wake of the Saudi-backed takeover at St James’ Park could impact the long term finances of Newcastle United.

An emergency meeting led to 18 of the 20 Premier League clubs temporarily blocking clubs from agreeing sponsorship deals with companies linked to their owners.

City abstained on the vote, with Newcastle voting against the measure.

It is believed that another vote will be held to permanently prevent these deals, which will impact Manchester City in particular as well as Newcastle in the future.

Newcastle are now backed by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF), which also owns minority stakes in companies like Facebook, Disney and Boeing, as well as Bank of America and Uber.

Other Premier League clubs are worried that PIF could use these partnerships to generate revenue for Newcastle and avoid financial fair play restraints in a similar way to how Manchester City use their Etihad sponsorship deal.

The Athletic’s Chris Waugh says that this vote proves the other clubs are fearsome of the potential for Newcastle to realise their potential as a giant of football but admits it may hinder their long term progress.

“It could potentially affect Newcastle in terms of setting up some commercial deals with Saudi Arabian companies or companies linked to PIF,” Waugh told Newcastle World.

“As a group, PIF invest in Disney, they invest in Uber - there are so many different companies and in theory that could prevent Newcastle getting sponsorship from those areas.”

This isn’t something new to Premier League teams. Aside from Manchester City, Everton also generate income from a company linked to their owner.

Their training ground is sponsored by USM, whose owner Farhad Moshiri is a partner in along with former Arsenal investor Alisher Usman. Meanwhile, Leicester City’s owner has close links to King Power, who own naming rights to their stadium.

Newcastle themselves have had Sports Direct emblazoned across their stadium for over a decade, who of course are owned by the now-departed Mike Ashley.

Waugh calls out the Premier League on their hypocrisy for acting on this matter now and not earlier.

“Nobody else in the Premier League seemed to care when Newcastle weren’t really benefiting financially,” Waugh added.

“This is all about other clubs fearing that Newcastle are going to try and increase their revenue streams via this sponsorship method.”

While Sports Direct signage remains at Newcastle, Steve Bruce does not after the Newcastle owners dismissed him following defeat to Tottenham.

Amanda Staveley’s consortium will be focused on hiring Bruce’s replacement for now, but the sponsorship block looks like another massive decision they need to deal with down the line.